Milwaukee officials eyeing Riverwalk extension, improvements

Milwaukee officials are looking to extend the city’s public Riverwalk on the Milwaukee River near Schlitz Park and to install flashing beacons at a handful of mid-block Riverwalk crossings.

A resolution introduced this week calls for using $475,000 from a downtown tax-increment-finance district to build a new public-access connection to the Riverwalk at Schlitz Park.

Schlitz Park is a seven-building, 46-acre office campus at the site of the former Schlitz Brewery. It is bordered roughly by the Milwaukee River to the east, West Vliet Street on the South, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive to the west and West Pleasant Street to the north.

In addition, the proposal calls for $560,000 to be used for the installation of flashing beacons at places where the Riverwalk crosses city streets.

The eight sites marked out for the beacons include parts of Pleasant Street, Cherry Street, Kilbourn Avenue, Juneau Avenue and State Street, according to Milwaukee Department of City Development staff. The beacons will be similar to some that were previously installed on Wisconsin Avenue.

The Riverwalk improvement money would come from a TIF district first established by the Milwaukee Common Council in 2000. The district was set up to build a Riverwalk segment and make other improvements related to work to convert a former WE Energies building into offices for Time Warner Inc.

The Redevelopment Authority of the City of Milwaukee, an independent corporation with ties to the city, is likely to take up the proposal at its February meeting.